April 11, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1429

PESHAWAR, April 10: Holding Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) responsible for the killing of lawyers and violence in Karachi, the legal fraternity on Thursday urged the government to declare it a terrorist outfit and confiscate all its properties in Pakistan and abroad.

A joint general body meeting of Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) and Peshawar District Bar Association (PDBA) condemned the Karachi violence and killing of people including five lawyers and alleged that General (retired) Pervez Musharraf and MQM were responsible for the carnage.

The meeting, presided over by the PHCBA vice president Fida Gul, passed various resolutions unanimously and also called upon the UK government to stop patronising MQM and Altaf Hussain. The lawyers also demanded deportation of Altaf Hussain from England, saying that he should be handed over to the ‘people of Pakistan’.

The meeting called upon the Sindh government to reopen the case of May 12 carnage and punish all those who were responsible for the barbarity on that fateful day.

The participants of the meeting requested Supreme Court Bar Association president Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan to withdraw his resignation as that was not in the interest of the lawyers’ movement. They also asked the government to probe the tragic killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto through the United Nations.

They also urged the coalition partners in the federal government to discontinue their association and camaraderie with MQM, which according to them was bent upon dismantling the federation of Pakistan by acting as the political henchmen of General (retired) Musharraf.

The meeting alleged that attack on Sher Afgan Niazi was engineered and executed by the personnel of the intelligence agencies on the direction of Musharraf.

The lawyers demanded immediate restoration of all the judges of the superior judicairy. The meeting called upon the deposed judges that once they were restored they should initiate proceedings against Musharraf for treason under Article 6 of the Constitution.

The meeting was addressed by Mohammad Khursheed, Fida Gul, Mussarat Hilali, Said Tahar Khan, Muhammad Ayaz Khan, FM Sabir and Jamal Khattak.

Most of the speakers said that what happened to Sher Afgan Niazi and Arbab Ghulam Raheem was because of the dirty role they had played in the past against the democratic institutions.

They stated that Musharraf had not accepted the clear and loud verdict of the people of Pakistan given on Feb 18 and he wanted to derail the process of democracy through the dregs of the society who had held the inhabitants of Karachi hostage for the last many years.

The general body meeting was followed by a protest demonstration. The protesting lawyers took out a procession from the high court and marched up to a nearby intersection which they called “Justice Square.”

They were chanting slogans against MQM, General (retired) Musharraf and Altaf Hussain. When the protesters reached the provincial assembly building, adjacent to the high court, they raised slogans calling upon the political parties to sever ties with MQM.

Our Correspondent adds from Dera Ismail Khan: Lawyers observed complete boycott of the courts on Thursday to protest Wednesday’s violence in Karachi that left six of their colleagues killed.

Condemning the Karachi incidents, lawyers hoisted black flags on district bar building and held meeting. District Bar Association president Hashmat Saduzai, general secretary Jamal Abdul Nasir and other lawyers’ leaders addressed the meeting.Later, they staged a protest rally to condemn the incident. The protesting lawyers were holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans against Musharraf, MQM and PML-Q.

Speaking on the occasion, the lawyers’ leaders said that Karachi violence and manhandling for former federal minister Sher Afghan Niazi was part of a well-conceived conspiracy that was hatched to damages the peaceful movement for independence of judiciary.